Lighted sports game

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides sporting equipment having lights.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to games and, more particularly, tosports games having a lighted component.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Many types of sports games exist. Some of the more popular sportsgames include, but are not limited to, croquet, Frisbee, baseball,football, soccer, basketball, hockey, golf, lacrosse, jai alai, fieldhockey, rugby, ping pong, and various target games such as horseshoes,bocce, darts, lawn darts, and the like. These games are typically playedduring daylight hours or under lights after dark. Often, when theavailable light drops below optimum levels, however, these games becomeimpractical or even dangerous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] To attain the advantages and in accordance with the purpose ofthe invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a sports gameis provided with at least one item having a light source.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0004] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in andconstitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of thepresent invention, and together with the description, serve to explainthe principles thereof. Like items in the drawings are referred to usingthe same numerical reference:

[0005]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sport ball illustrative of the presentinvention;

[0006]FIGS. 2-4 are sectional plan views of a light illustrative of thepresent invention;

[0007]FIGS. 5-15 are illustrations of some alternative lightsillustrative of the present invention;

[0008]FIGS. 16-19 shows a cross-sectional view of a light attached to anitem consistent with the present invention; and

[0009]FIGS. 20-46 show view of various sporting games with lightsconsistent with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0010] The present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.1-46. Referring first to FIG. 1, a ball 10 including a channel 12 thatextends at least partially around a periphery 16 of ball 10 is shown. Alighting element 14 is housed at least partially within channel 12.Lighting element 14 can fill all or part of channel 12 as a matter ofdesign choice. Also, lighting element 14 could be attached directly toperiphery 16 of ball 10 without the use of channel 12, but it isbelieved channel 12 will provide some protection to lighting element 14to increase durability. The ball 10 could be, for example, a baseball, asoccer ball, a football, a volley ball, a basketball, a lacrosse ball, ashot-put, a discus, a flying disc, a hockey puck, a golf ball, a bowlingball, a tennis ball, a racket ball, a softball, a squash ball, ahandball, shuttlecock, a bocce ball, a croquet ball, a ping pong ball,or the like. In other words, ball is used generically. The specificexamples given here and provided below, should be construed in anexemplary and non-limiting manner.

[0011] Although the ball 10 is shown having a single channel 12extending around the periphery 16, multiple channels, partial channels,or other designs are possible. Further, channel 12 could be formed todepict figures or whimsical designs, such as, for example, a croquetball could have the design of a mallet, a baseball a design of a batter,or other more abstract designs. Alternatively, lighting element 14 mayextend around periphery 16 of ball 10 without residing in channel 12, inother words, channel 12 would not exist in periphery 16 of ball 10. Yetanother alternative would be to have lighting element 14 or multiplelighting elements 14 reside, in part, in channel 12 and, in part,outside channel 12 to provide different lighting effects. Still further,reflective elements 14 a could be placed on ball 10 to provideadditional lighting effects, such as, reflection, refraction,dispersion, or prism effects.

[0012] Channel 12 and/or lighting element 14 may include a transparent,translucent or semi-translucent protective covering (not specificallyshown in FIG. 1, but described in relation to FIGS. 17 and 18) toprotect lighting element 14, at least a portion of which is lighttransmissive (i.e., transparent, translucent, or semi-translucent).Varying degrees of translucence (from opaque to transparent) could beused as a matter of design choice to provide patterns of light andshading. The protective covering may include, for example, a flexiblesheeting material such as a fabric, polymer or other material to protectlighting element 14. Various protective covering materials andconfigurations, for example, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,678entitled “Interior Decorating Item and Use of an Optical Wave Guide asDecorative Thread on Such Interior Decorating Items” issued to BernhardBayersdorfer on Sep. 17, 2002, which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety. The protective covering may alternatively include arigid or semi-rigid material, such as a clear plastic, glass, coloredplastic, colored glass, a frosted glass-like surface or the like.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 2, lighting element 5, for example, may includean elongated member 6 and a light source 7. Elongated member 6 may emitlight over its entire length, a portion of its length, only at one orboth of its ends, or combinations thereof. Elongated member 6 may berigid or flexible. Elongated member 6, for example, may include one ormore fiber optic strands, glass fibers, plastic fibers, elongatedthermoplastic strands, optical wave guide materials, or the like. Forexample, U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,678 entitled “INTERIOR DECORATING ITEM ANDUSE OF AN OPTICAL WAVE GUIDE AS DECORATIVE THREAD ON SUCH INTERIORDECORATING ITEMS” issued on Sep. 17, 2002, which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety, discloses optical wave guides includingmaterials such as glass, plastic or poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA)fibers. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,076 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUSFOR LIGHT TRANSMISSION” issued on Mar. 9, 1999, which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety, discloses elongated membersincluding substantially transparent or clear thermoplastic material of aform commonly known as a hot-melt adhesive, which includes an adhesiveprimarily comprised of ethylene-vinyl acetate, a low-densitypolyethylene, a polypropylene thermoplastic or a polyamide adhesive.Other light sources include light carrying tubes, such as the lightcarrying tubes described in, U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,335, titled“ELECTROLUMINESCENT LIGHT SOURCES,” issued on Jan. 16, 1999, U.S. Pat.No. 5,860,930, titled “ELECTROLUMINESCENT LIGHT SOURCE WITH A MIXTURELAYER FILLED WITH A TRANSPARENT FILLER SUBSTANCE,” issued on Feb. 9,1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,400,093, titled “FLEXIBLE ELECTROLUMINESCENTLIGHT SOURCE WITH ACTIVE PROTECTION FROM MOISTURE,” issued Jun. 4, 2002,all of which are incorporated by reference. Electro luminescent lightsources are sometimes known as flexible light wire. Other light sourcesinclude chemical luminescent compositions, which are sometimes known aslight sticks, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,843, titled “SUPERIOR OXALATEESTER CHEMICAL LIGHTING SYSTEM,” issued on Feb. 2, 1982, and U.S. Pat.No. 4,678,608, titled “CHEMILUMINESCENT COMPOSITION,” issued on Jul. 7,1987. All of which are incorporated herein by reference. Other similarmaterials are also known for use in carrying and emitting light wavesmay suitably be used within the scope of the present invention.

[0014]FIG. 3 depicts another lighting element 5 including multipleelongated members 6 and multiple light sources 7. As shown in FIG. 3,light sources 7 may be arranged on one or both ends of elongated members6. Further, although FIG. 3 shows two elongated members 6 and threelight sources 7, any number of elongated members 6 and light sources arepossible. Further, a single light source may illuminate multipleelongated members or a single elongated member may receive light wavesfrom multiple light sources arranged at one or both ends of theelongated member.

[0015] Light source 7 may include a light-emitting diode (LED), a lightbulb, a laser diode or other light sources known in the art. Alternativelight sources may include, for example, a single florescent light tube,multiple rows of florescent light tubes, incandescent lights, halogenlights, light strings (such as Christmas lights) or the like. Lightsource 7 may comprise one or more different colors and may provide forany number of lighting effects. In general, almost any arrangement oflight can be provided depending on the lighting effect desired. Forexample, the individual elements of light source 7 may flash or blink atthe same or different rates frequencies. Further, light source 7 couldbe a strobe light or other light that has an on and off feature, similarto a timer or a string of blinking Christmas lights. Still further, itwould be possible to have a dimmer to manually or automatically controlthe brightness of light source 7. Finally, a timer could be used tocontrol an on and off pattern of the lights and the dimmer.

[0016] Light source 7 may further include any power supply known in theart. For example, the power supply may include and an A.C. or a D.C.source, but it is contemplated simple batteries would be most usefulsuch as an alkaline, nickel-cadmium, lithium or zinc air battery, athin-film battery, a fuel cell, a solar cell, an A.C. voltage convertedto a D.C. voltage or the like.

[0017]FIG. 4 shows still another arrangement of light element 5. Lightelement 5 shows multiple light sources 7 arranged between alternativeelongated members 6. The light source arrangement of FIG. 4 could haveall the features identified above.

[0018]FIGS. 5 and 6 depict an alternative lighting element 11A. Lightingelement 11A includes a backing strip 12A and a front strip 13A. Lightingelement 11A is shown in more detail in FIG. 6 and further includeselongated member 16A, at least one light source 7 (see FIGS. 2-4),conductive strips 18A and 19A. Front strip 13A is preferably anelongated strip of light-transmissive material, such as a transparent,translucent or semi-translucent strip of material. The backing strip 12Amay be an opaque, light-reflective material, or a transparent,translucent or semi-translucent material through which light may betransmitted. If lighting element 11A is to be attached to an opaque itemthrough which light will not transmit or if the light generated ispreferred to be focused in only a portion of the possible directionsfrom lighting element 11A, for example, an opaque, light reflectivematerial may be used as backing strip 12A in order to reflect themaximum intensity of the light from the elongated member through frontstrip 13A. If it is desired that the lighting element 11A transmit lightin all directions, however, backing strip 12A may include a lighttransmissive material, such as a transparent, translucent orsemi-translucent strip of material.

[0019]FIGS. 7-9 show another embodiment of a lighting element 41.Lighting element 41 includes a backing strip 42, a front strip 43 and aplurality of elongated members 44. Backing strip 42 preferably comprisesa reflective elongated strip, and front strip 43 comprises an elongatedlens, which may be glass or plastic (such as vinyl) for magnifying thelight emitted from elongate members 44. Elongate members 44 and at leastone light source 7 (shown in FIGS. 2-4) are positioned within the tubeor casement formed by strips 42 and 43. A circuit board 46 containing apower supply circuit and a battery pack 47 may be included to providepower for the circuit. The lens may diffuse light from elongated members44 more evenly along the entire lengths of the elongated members. Thelighting element may thus project light a substantial distance in eithera constant glow or as a flashing or blinking light. Alternatively, thelens may provide refract the light, provide a prism effect, or the like

[0020] Yet another lighting element 51 is shown in FIG. 10 in which thelighting element comprises a backing strip 52, a front strip 53 and oneor more elongated members 54 positioned between light sources 55 and 56.Light sources 55 and 56 are directed in opposite directions to directlight into the elongated member 54 from either end.

[0021]FIG. 11 shows another lighting element 61 including an elongatedmember 60 having an irregular profile with a rounded top surface 62 anda recessed lower surface 63. Elongated member 60, for example, may beformed of a hot-melt adhesive plastic. Longitudinally spaced lightsources 64 are received within recessed surface 63 of elongated member60. Light sources 64, such as LEDs, may be embedded in a material 65such as a hot-melt adhesive plastic formed around light sources 64.Material 65 may be the same material as elongated member 60, but couldalso be a different material. Light sources 64 are further positioned todirect light along the length of elongated member 60. Suitableconnections 66 to provide power and control to light sources 64 are alsoembedded in material 65.

[0022]FIG. 12 shows yet another lighting element 67 similar to lightingelement 61 shown in FIG. 11. Lighting element 67 includes an elongatedmember 74 having an irregular profile with a rounded top surface 68, aconcave recess 69 on the lower surface receiving longitudinally spacedlight sources 71, such as LEDs, embedded within a material such as ahot-melt adhesive plastic. Light sources 71 are positioned to directlight along elongated member 74. One or more reflective devices, such aslight reflective prisms 73, enhance the light transmissioncharacteristics of elongated member 74.

[0023] While shown as rounded members, elongated members 60 and 74 couldhave various alternative geometric shapes, such as concave, convex,elliptical, oval, circular, triangular, rectangular, or the like.Further, random or irregular shapes are also possible.

[0024] Elongated members 60 and 74 of FIGS. 11 and 12 may be extrudedfrom a suitable extruder and the light sources and embedding materialsmay be applied to the elongated members as they exit the extruder. Also,suitable rollers or other components may be used to provide the prismsurface of elongated member 74.

[0025] Another embodiment of a lighting element 81 is shown in FIGS. 13and 14 in which elongated strips of a transparent, translucent orsemi-translucent material such as nylon, polypropylene or polyester of ahook and loop material (e.g., VELCRO, a registered trademark of theVelcro Company, or COSMOLON, a registered trademark of YKK, or similarhook and loop material) are used to form a protective housing forelongated members 87 and light sources 88. The protective sheeting isformed of a backing strip 82 including loop material 83 and a frontstrip 84 that includes hooks 85. Elongated members 87 and light sources88 are sandwiched between the backing strip 82 and the front strip 84.Alternatively, backing strip 82 may include hooks and front strip 84 mayinclude loop material, or the backing strip and/or front strip mayinclude other known connecting materials such as pressure sensitiveadhesives, snaps, buttons, zippers and the like. Backing strip 82 mayfurther comprise a reflective layer to reflect the light emitted fromelongated members 87 towards front strip 84, and front strip 84 ispreferably transparent, translucent or semi-translucent to allow thelight emitted from elongated members 87 to pass through.

[0026] Another lighting element 91 is shown in FIG. 15 in which anelongated member 92 is surrounded by a transparent, translucent orsemi-translucent longitudinal strip 92A. Projecting ends 94 and 95 areconnected together, such as along a weld line 96, thereby forming ahollow opening 93 through which elongated member 92 extends and afastening strip 97 comprising ends 94 and 95. Lighting element 91 ofFIG. 15 is further shown attached to an item 100, such as a ball, a bat,a wicket, a mallet, a racket, a target, or other sporting device, inFIG. 16. Item 100 is comprised of a first portion 102 and a secondportion 104, between which fastening strip 97 extends. First portion102, second portion 104 and fastening strip 97 are connected togethervia a fastening means 106, such as using pins, screws, adhesives,rivets, clamp, snap-locks, friction fitting, and the like.

[0027]FIG. 17 shows a cross-sectional view of an alternative means ofattaching a lighting element to an item 110. Item 110 includes a channel112 for receiving at least a portion of lighting element 114. Atransparent, translucent, or semi-translucent material 116, such as, forexample, plastics, glass, or the like, bonded or otherwise attached toitem 110 surrounds lighting element 114. Material 116 could surroundlighting element 114 as shown in FIG. 17 or simply a cover for channel112 that encloses lighting element 114 (not specifically shown in FIG.17). Also, instead of placement in channel 112, material 116 could beused to form a rigid such that item 110 comprises a ribbed feel.Material 116, for example, may include an adhesive that holds lightingelement 114 within channel 112 of the item. Bonding material 116 to item110 could include the adhesive as mentioned, stitching, thermal orfusion bonding, glues, rivets, embossing, welds, solders, pins, or thelike.

[0028]FIGS. 18 and 19 show a cross-sectional and plan view of anothermeans of attaching a lighting element 124 to an item 120. Item 120includes, optionally, a channel 122 for receiving lighting element 124.Alternatively, channel 122 may comprise a seam or other region in whichthe lighting element 124 may be placed. Conversely, lighting element 124could be placed on the surface of item 120 without channel 122. A thread(which could be cloth, plastic, or the like) 126 extends across lightingelement 124 along the length of lighting element 124, holding thelighting element in place around a portion of a periphery (notspecifically labeled in FIG. 18) of the item 120. Lighting element 124,for example, may be stitched in a channel or seam formed by panels of aball, such as a volleyball or a soccer ball. Item 120, however, need notinclude such a channel or seam and the lighting element may be stitchedto the periphery of item 120.

[0029] Although FIGS. 16 to 19 depict a lighting element such as shownin FIGS. 1 to 4 being attached to various items, any of the lightingelements described above, or any variations of those lighting elementsmay be similarly attached as would be readily recognized by one of skillin the art. Similarly, the elongated member of any lighting element maybe attached to an item such as described herein and extend to a lightsource that is remote to a connection of the elongated element to theitem. For example, the power supply and/or light sources of the lightingelement may be connected to the item remote from the channel or seam(e.g., on the periphery of or internal to the item).

[0030]FIG. 20 shows a volleyball 130 comprising a plurality of panels136 connected at a plurality of seams 134. Volleyball 130 furtherincludes lighting elements 132, which may be attached to the volleyballalong a portion of seams 134 formed by the panels 136, as shown, orattached directly to one or more portions of panels 136. Lightingelements 132 may be attached to volleyball 130 along all or any portionof seams 134 of volleyball 130, or may be attached to the volleyball atany other portion. Also, while shown as attached to provide lighteffects to a portion of volleyball 130, lighting elements 132 could bearranged to form designs, such as a soccer (or football) player, randomdesigns, whimsical designs, or the like.

[0031]FIG. 21 shows a football 140 including lighting elements 142 and146 attached to football 140. Lighting elements 142 may be attachedaround the perimeter of football 140 and/or near ends 148 of football140, which may enhance the visibility or replace the stripes found onmany conventional footballs. Further, lighting element 146 may beattached to football 140 along a seam 144 and/or underneath, around, orabove laces 149 of football 140. Once again, the various lightingelements may be used to form a design.

[0032]FIG. 22 shows a net 150, such as used for volleyball, badminton,tennis, or the like. Net 150 includes a lighting element 152 attached tothe net along the top edge of the net. Further lighting elements arealso possible to highlight other portions of the net of interest, suchas the poles, along a sideline, vertical portions of the net, a bottomor full outline of the net, or the like. FIGS. 23 and 24 further show aracquet 160 (e.g., a badminton racquet, a racquet ball racquet, a tennisracquet, or the like) and a shuttlecock 170. Racquet 160 includes alighting element 162 that may be attached along a periphery 164 of thehead of the racquet, as shown, or woven into a racket net 161 or along ahandle 163 (lighting elements not specifically shown on net 161 orhandle 163). Shuttlecock 170 includes a lighting element 172 extendingaround the periphery adjacent a head 174 of shuttlecock 170. While notspecifically shown, lighting elements may be woven into a tail 175 ofshuttlecock 170.

[0033]FIGS. 25 and 26 show a soccer ball 180 and a basketball 190 eachincluding lighting elements 182 and 192, respectively, attached alongthe seams of the soccer ball 180 and the basketball 190. Once again,other arrangements of lighting elements 182 and 192 are possible.

[0034]FIG. 27 further shows a basketball backboard 200 and rim 202including lighting elements 204 and 206. Backboard 200 includes lightingelement 204 attached in a square target located above rim 202. Rim 202may include lighting element 206 located around the periphery of the rim202. Rim 202, for example, may further include one or more lightingelements woven into a net 208. While simple lighting effects are shown,lighting elements 204 and 206 could be arranged to form a design.

[0035]FIG. 28 shows a ball 210, such as a baseball, softball, tennisball, racket ball, or the like, including panels 212 attached at seam214. A lighting element 216 is attached along seam 214 to providelighting enhancements including greater visibility of ball 210. FIG. 29further shows a bat 220 including optional channels 222 in whichlighting elements 224 are attached. FIGS. 30 and 31 show bases 230 and232 for use with a baseball or softball style game, such as, forexample, a sandlot package. Bases 230 and 232 each include a lightingelement 234 extending around the periphery of the bases. Otherconfigurations of lights are also possible.

[0036]FIG. 32 shows a perspective view of a Frisbee or flying disc 240.Frisbee 240 includes a disc 241 and a rim 242. Frisbee 240 furtherincludes a lighting element 244 attached to rim 242 of Frisbee 240.Lighting element 244, for example, may be attached to the exterior ofrim 242 of Frisbee 240 or along the bottom or top edge of rim 242.Alternatively, lighting element 244 may be attached along an internaledge of rim 242 or may be embedded within the rim 242 if the rim 242 istransparent, translucent or semi-translucent. Other configurations oflighting element 244 include lights in disc 241.

[0037]FIGS. 33 and 34 show a horseshoe set including target poles 250and a horseshoe 260. Poles 250 each include lighting elements 252.Horseshoe 260 includes lighting elements 262 attached to the horseshoealong one or both sides of the horseshoe. Alternatively, horseshoe 260may include a lighting element along a sidewall 264 of the horseshoe260.

[0038]FIGS. 35 and 36 show a croquet mallet 270 and a representativewicket 280 that may be used with a ball, such as shown in FIG. 1, aspart of a croquet set. Mallet 270 includes lighting elements 272extending around a barrel of mallet 270. Lighting elements could also beincluded on a handle 273 (separately or in combination with other lightson mallet 270). The colors of lighting elements 272 of different malletsmay include various colors that can be matched to colors of croquetballs to form a complete croquet set. Further, wicket 280 includes alighting element 282 on one or both sides of the wicket 280.Alternatively, wicket 280 may include lighting elements along aninternal periphery 284 or an external periphery 286 of the wickets sothat a lighting element may be viewed from either side. Lightingelements on wickets 280 may be arranged to show an order of wickets, forexample, the first wicket could have 1 light, the second wicket couldhave 2 lights, etc.

[0039]FIGS. 37 and 38 show a golf cup 290 and a golf flagstick 300. Cup290 includes lighting element 292 that may extend around the peripheryof the top edge of cup 290. Flagstick 300 may include lighting element302 extending around the periphery of the flag 304 and/or extendingalong flagstick 300.

[0040]FIG. 39 shows a side view of a hockey puck 310. Hockey puck 310may include one or more channels 312 that extend around a perimeter ofthe puck 310. Channel 312 receives a lighting element 314, which is heldwithin channel 312 by one or more attachment means described above.

[0041]FIG. 40 shows a golf ball 320. The golf ball 320 includes one ormore channels 312 extending around a perimeter of golf ball 320. Channel322 may receives a lighting element 324, which is held within thechannel 322 by one or more attachment means described above.

[0042]FIG. 41 shows a hockey stick 330 having a handle portion 330 h anda striking surface portion 330 s including at least one lighting element332 extending along the side of stick 330. A golf club, not specificallyshown, would be similar to a hockey stick. Preferably, lighting element332 is attached to both sides of stick 330 or along an edge 334 of stick330 so that lighting element 332 is visible from both sides of stick330.

[0043]FIGS. 42 and 43 show a dartboard 340 and a dart 350, respectively.Dartboard 340 includes a plurality of lighting elements 342 locatedbetween, in, or a combination thereof the scoring regions. Dartboard 340may further include lighting elements located on numbers 344 labelingthe scoring regions to more easily identify the regions in poorlighting. Dart 350 shown in FIG. 43 includes lighting elements 354affixed to flights 352 of dart 350, although lights could be attached tothe body of dart 350 as well.

[0044]FIGS. 44 and 45 show a pylon 360 and a line 370 that may be usedfor marking the perimeter of a sporting field. Other sport accessoriesknown in the art include flags, poles, targets (such as dart boardtargets or archery targets), bows, arrows, and the like may also beused. Pylon 360 includes a cone 362 and a base 364. Lighting elements366 may be arranged vertically along the edge of cone 362. Lightingelements 366, however, may be arranged in other configurations, such ashorizontally around the perimeter of the cone or in other designs. Line370 is shown in FIG. 45 and includes a lighting element 372 that isattached along at least a portion of the length of the line 370.Lighting element 372 may be attached to the line by any means, such asdescribed above, or may be woven among the strands of a rope that maycomprise line 370. Line 370, which may be cloth or plastic, may bearranged along a playing field to outline boundaries, or may be used intargets, such as a target circular for lawn darts.

[0045]FIG. 46 shows a goal 380 that may be used in various sportinggames, such as soccer, lacrosse, hockey, football, and the like. Goal380 may include posts 384 and crossbar 386. A lighting element 382 maybe attached along the front edges of posts 384 and crossbar 386, or maybe attached along a side edge of posts 384 and crossbar 386.

[0046] While the invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to particular embodiment(s) thereof, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various other changes in theform and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention.

We claim:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: a ball; the ball having an outersurface; at least one lighting element; the at least one lightingelement comprising a light source and an elongated member; the elongatedmember capable of radiating light from the light source; and the atleast one lighting element is couple to at least a portion of the outerperipheral surface.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theball comprises at least one of a baseball, a soccer ball, a football, avolley ball, a basketball, a lacrosse ball, a shot-put, a discus, ahockey puck, a horseshoe, a golf ball, a bowling ball, a tennis ball, aracket ball, a softball, a squash ball, a handball, shuttlecock, a bocceball, a croquet ball, and a ping pong ball.
 3. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the light source comprises at least one of aflorescent light, an incandescent light, a halogen light, a lightstring, a lcd, a led, a laser, an electroluminescent light source, achemical light source, a light tube, or a flexible light wire.
 4. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one lightingelement forms a design on the outer surface of the ball.
 5. Theapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one channelresiding on at least a portion of the outer surface of the ball; and theat least one lighting element held in at least part of the at least onechannel.
 6. An apparatus, comprising: a handle portion; a strikingsurface portion; the handle portion is couple to the striking surfaceportion; at least one lighting element; the at least one lightingelement comprising a light source and an elongated member; and the atleast one lighting element is coupled to at least one the handle portionand the striking surface portion.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6,wherein the handle portion and striking surface portion form at leastone of a baseball bat, a softball bat, a cricket paddle, a tennisracket, a badminton racket, a hockey stick, a golf club, croquet mallet,a racket ball racket, a lacrosse stick, and a field hockey stick.
 8. Theapparatus according to claim 6, wherein the light source comprises atleast one of a florescent light, an incandescent light, a halogen light,a light string, a lcd, a led, a laser, an electroluminescent lightsource, a chemical light source, a light tube, or a flexible light wire.9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the at least one lightingelement is coupled to at least one of a handle outer surface and astriking surface outer surface.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 6,further comprising: at least one translucent portion; the at least onetranslucent portion forming at least a portion of at least one of thehandle portion and the striking surface portion; wherein the at leastone lighting element resides internal to at least one of the handleportion and the striking surface portion and light is radiated out theat least one translucent portion.
 11. A sports game, comprising: a goal;the goal having at least a frame; at least one lighting element; the atleast one lighting element comprising a light source and an elongatedmember; and the at least one lighting element coupled to the goal toprovide lighting effects.
 12. The sports game according to claim 11,wherein the goal comprises at least one of a football goal, a soccergoal, a lacrosse goal, a golf hole, a dart target, a hockey goal, afield hockey goal, water polo goal, a polo goal, and a rugby goal. 13.The sports game according to claim 11, wherein the goal comprises: anet; and the at least one lighting element is coupled to at least one ofthe frame and the net.
 14. The sports game according to claim 11,wherein the goal comprises: a backboard; and the at least one lightingelement is coupled to at least the backboard.
 15. The sports gameaccording to claim 13, wherein the goal further comprises a backboardand the at least one lighting element is coupled to the backboard.
 16. Asports game, comprising: at least one accessory; the at least oneaccessory comprises at least one of a net, a flag, a pylon, a boundary,a bow, a flag, a pole, and a target; at least one lighting element; theat least one lighting element comprising a light source and an elongatedmember; and the at least one lighting element coupled to the at leastone accessory to provide lighting effects.
 17. The sports game accordingto claim 16, wherein the at least one accessory comprises a target,wherein the target is at least one of a lawn dart target, a dart target,and an archery target.
 18. The sports game according to claim 16,wherein the at least one accessory comprises a flag, wherein the flag isat least one of a golf hole flag, a soccer corner flag, and a flagfootball flag.
 19. The sports game according to claim 16, wherein the atleast one accessory comprises a net, wherein the net is a volley ballnet, a badminton net, a tennis net, and a ping-pong ball net.
 20. Thesports game, comprising: at least one piece of sporting equipment; meansfor providing light; and means for attaching, wherein the means forattaching couples the means for providing light to the at least onepiece of sporting equipment.